5 Characteristics Of A High Performing Blog Post

Would you classify your content as high quality, ok quality or low quality? And why?

There’s more to content than just putting it out. The quality of your posts can play a very significant role in the success of your career as a content creator.

Many bloggers and vloggers neglect paying attention to the details of the content they put out and this affects their growth greatly. Don’t be that blogger/vlogger, read these 5 characteristics that will improve the quality of your content (if you implement!) and have a quality boost on your content.

1. It Provides Value

A great post is one that provides value to its readers. Value can be in the form of information or entertainment. Whichever of these is the motive behind your post, your readers should feel that it was worth their time.

Does your post provide value or entertain your audience? Deciding this before you start working on your post can make a great difference in how it comes out when you’re done working on it.

Will this post provide value to my readers? Having this question at the back of your mind, helps to guide you in creating a good post, so that your post provides the intended value to your audience.

The value provided by your content can be what differentiates a high quality post from a low quality one. Value is also what determines relevance to your audience.

2. It’s Evergreen

Evergreen content is content that is relevant both now and in the future. It’s content that your future readers can consume and still find useful and its content that present readers can refer back to in the future and still find relevant.

Evergreen content can be very helpful in the growth of your blog or channel. Having content that readers can always refer to, means that you will have repeated views and visits from your current viewers, in addition to future views/reads from a future audience.

As a blogger, if you have evergreen content, you can put links back to previous posts in your future posts, so that after consuming one piece of content your readers can be redirected to previous posts like This One. 

As a result this benefits your metrics, because it lowers your bounce rate and tells the search engine algorithm that your visitors are staying longer to consume more content, be it on your site or YouTube channel if you’re a vlogger.

For example, a new blogger who has just visited the Female Blogpreneur blog for the first time through a link of this particular post, may be interested in knowing that they can find other helpful posts to aid them on their blogging journey. After learning about things they should be aware of when attempting to make high quality posts, they may be interested in more information on how to monetize their posts and that is where you can redirect them to an evergreen post like this one – 20 Ways to Make Money From Your Blog. 

That is how you can leverage evergreen content to work for you.

3. It is Engaging

A high quality post is engaging. And this is in a broad sense. 

It can be engaging in the sense that it provokes a reaction or an emotion. If entertaining, your post will make your audience laugh, cry, be angry, be encouraged or inspired etc. 

If it is an informative post, it may invoke a thought reaction – it leaves your audience thinking or makes them analyze the topic you’re discussing. It incites curiosity or raises questions that encourage them to want more and do personal research.

To take it a step further, it leaves a lasting impression or influences people to change their lives in one way or another.

An engaging post also keeps people interested until the end. This is very important because when you get people interested in what they are consuming, they become loyal fans of your content.

4. Simple to understand

A high quality post is simple to understand without compromising value. It leaves no room for confusion and is usually straight to the point. It is  comprehensive and is not misunderstood by those it is targeted at. Not everyone is meant to understand it, but if those who are your target audience do not, that’s when it becomes a problem.

So make sure your content is consumable and can be easily digested by those it was created for.

5. Straight to the point

A good map will not show people a route from USA to Europe then through Australia and Africa  when the intended destination is Canada. It will simply show straight routes from USA to Canada.

Likewise a good post will not beat around the bush too much before getting to a point. You may need to make a stop in another city on your way to Canada but there is no need to fly around the world first.

There are some exceptions when the detours are intended to give context or build on a story, or if beating around the bush is part of the entertainment. However, this needs to be done with a mindful approach as it may lead to your audience losing interest in your content.

So when creating your next post, make sure it is engaging, while providing value. Make sure it is simple to understand, while getting straight to the point and that it is evergreen for reference in the future.

BONUS: After accomplishing all these in your post, now work on it being SEO friendly so that it can be ranked well by search engines. Although there’s technical stuff that goes into making your post SEO friendly, one contributing factor to high ranking is having a lot of traffic due to the quality of the post. A high performing post is also SEO friendly.

I’d love to hear what your answer to the first question at the beginning of this post was (Is your content high quality, ok quality or low quality?)

Have you been incorporating all five of these aspects in your content? If not, which ones do you think you need to pay more attention to? 

Comment your answers below! And don’t forget to share on your social handles (use the social icons below) so someone else can read this as well.